Washington Hunter
Well-known member
Published April 02, 2007
Wolf population growing in Eastern Washington
Chester Allen
Washington’s gray wolves were wiped out by the 1930s, but they’re making a comeback.
Don’t expect to see wolves in Thurston County anytime soon — unless you make a visit to Wolf Haven near Offut Lake — but wolves have been spotted in the north Cascades, northeastern Washington and in the Blue Mountains in southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon.
Biologists believe that most of the wolves spotted during the past few years have been animals moving in and out of the state from established packs in British Columbia, Idaho and Montana.
“We’ve radio-tracked tagged wolves that moved into Washington and then went back through Idaho to Montana,” said Rocky Beach, wildlife diversity division manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We don’t have established packs yet, but they’re coming.”
There’s a good chance that wolf packs will be living in remote areas of Eastern Washington within four or five years, and that’s why Fish and Wildlife has formed an 18-member citizen group that will create a wolf conservation and management plan by mid-2008, Beach said.
The group, which includes ranchers, conservationists, biologists, hunters and other outdoor users, will wrestle with some tough issues.
People tend to love or hate wolves, and that means a lot of different viewpoints are needed to create a management plan.
Some of the issues include deciding how many wolf packs should live in Washington, what places are best for wolves and how to deal with wolves that kill sheep, cattle and other livestock, Beach said.
Even if you hate wolves, a management plan has to allow at least some of the animals to live, as they’re protected under the federal Endangered Species Act — and under Washington’s endangered species laws.
The federal government has proposed taking wolves off the endangered species list in a big chunk of Eastern Washington, said Doug Zimmer of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
That proposal is far from a done deal.
Biologists suspect that wolves are roaming the north and central Cascades all the way south to Naches, Zimmer said.
The rugged Cascades, which are full of deer, elk and other animals, are prime range for wolves.
But no one is sure how many wolves are out there.
Finding a wolf in thousands of square miles of rugged, roadless country is a tough chore, as the animals move around — and they’d rather not hang around humans, Zimmer said.
“It’s like finding a needle in a field of haystacks — and the haystacks keep moving around,” Zimmer said.
But humans do stumble across wolves every now and then.
And it’s likely that wolves will eventually set up housekeeping in the north Cascades — if they haven’t already.
“The thing about wolves is, if you have habitat, they will come,” Zimmer said.
The wolf is one of the animals — along with grizzly bears — that spells out wild country in capital letters.
Wolves were in Washington long before people arrived, and the blacktail deer, mule deer and elk managed to survive with wolves all over the place.
Yellowstone National Park is the only place I’ve seen wolves in the wild, and just the sight of a flurry of wolf paw prints on a muddy river bank sends a thrill rippling along your backbone.
Then you hear them howling at night, and you snap wide awake in your sleeping bag. You listen to the haunting, echoing howls as the cold air oozes over your face. You love it or hate it, but it’s a little taste of how the west sounded 200 years ago.
Those feelings and sounds are worth paying ranchers for lost cattle and sheep.
Wolves belong in Washington — maybe not in downtown Olympia — but surely in the Cascades.
Wolf population growing in Eastern Washington
Chester Allen
Washington’s gray wolves were wiped out by the 1930s, but they’re making a comeback.
Don’t expect to see wolves in Thurston County anytime soon — unless you make a visit to Wolf Haven near Offut Lake — but wolves have been spotted in the north Cascades, northeastern Washington and in the Blue Mountains in southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon.
Biologists believe that most of the wolves spotted during the past few years have been animals moving in and out of the state from established packs in British Columbia, Idaho and Montana.
“We’ve radio-tracked tagged wolves that moved into Washington and then went back through Idaho to Montana,” said Rocky Beach, wildlife diversity division manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We don’t have established packs yet, but they’re coming.”
There’s a good chance that wolf packs will be living in remote areas of Eastern Washington within four or five years, and that’s why Fish and Wildlife has formed an 18-member citizen group that will create a wolf conservation and management plan by mid-2008, Beach said.
The group, which includes ranchers, conservationists, biologists, hunters and other outdoor users, will wrestle with some tough issues.
People tend to love or hate wolves, and that means a lot of different viewpoints are needed to create a management plan.
Some of the issues include deciding how many wolf packs should live in Washington, what places are best for wolves and how to deal with wolves that kill sheep, cattle and other livestock, Beach said.
Even if you hate wolves, a management plan has to allow at least some of the animals to live, as they’re protected under the federal Endangered Species Act — and under Washington’s endangered species laws.
The federal government has proposed taking wolves off the endangered species list in a big chunk of Eastern Washington, said Doug Zimmer of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
That proposal is far from a done deal.
Biologists suspect that wolves are roaming the north and central Cascades all the way south to Naches, Zimmer said.
The rugged Cascades, which are full of deer, elk and other animals, are prime range for wolves.
But no one is sure how many wolves are out there.
Finding a wolf in thousands of square miles of rugged, roadless country is a tough chore, as the animals move around — and they’d rather not hang around humans, Zimmer said.
“It’s like finding a needle in a field of haystacks — and the haystacks keep moving around,” Zimmer said.
But humans do stumble across wolves every now and then.
And it’s likely that wolves will eventually set up housekeeping in the north Cascades — if they haven’t already.
“The thing about wolves is, if you have habitat, they will come,” Zimmer said.
The wolf is one of the animals — along with grizzly bears — that spells out wild country in capital letters.
Wolves were in Washington long before people arrived, and the blacktail deer, mule deer and elk managed to survive with wolves all over the place.
Yellowstone National Park is the only place I’ve seen wolves in the wild, and just the sight of a flurry of wolf paw prints on a muddy river bank sends a thrill rippling along your backbone.
Then you hear them howling at night, and you snap wide awake in your sleeping bag. You listen to the haunting, echoing howls as the cold air oozes over your face. You love it or hate it, but it’s a little taste of how the west sounded 200 years ago.
Those feelings and sounds are worth paying ranchers for lost cattle and sheep.
Wolves belong in Washington — maybe not in downtown Olympia — but surely in the Cascades.
